The Nature of Power
by YukiHasAMercedes
Summary: A young Earth Kingdom boy has a shocking ecounter and learns about the true meaning of the word power. Azula fic.


"Spring is the season when all things grow

Little sprouts and green buds show.

Summer is the season of the clear blue sky

Wind blows strong and the crops stand high.

Autumn is the season with dancing leaves

Fields laid bare as the sickle cleaves.

Winter is the season of the frosty sleep

Earth is cold, but the seeds lie deep."

Kwan's off-key voice wavered slightly as he walked among the rows of corn in his family's field, carefully scattering a fine powder over the young plants. The powder, carried in a pouch over his shoulder, was ground from the curare seed, which was mildly poisonous when ingested and had a distinct bitter fragrance. It would keep hungry birds away from the crops, which were his family's main source of income.

Nearly all of the families in Kwan's small community were farmers. Their village was built on a nondescript hillside in the Earth Kingdom, which was surrounded by unusually fertile land. Agriculture was the local trade, for good reason. The crops grown by the village were reputed to be the most delicious in the entire kingdom.

Kwan tossed out another handful of powder and sang the final stanza of his song.

"Seasons pass, nature's way.

All things come again some day."

He coughed as his voice cracked on the last note. Kwan had never been a particularly good singer, and now that he was almost thirteen and his voice was changing, he sounded even less melodious than ever. But when he was alone in the field like this, there was no one to criticize his singing. Kwan bent over to examine the corn.

Good so far. The newly developed leaves were small, but were also a healthy shade of green. He tested the stem between his finger and thumb. Springy, but sturdy. Kwan rocked back on his heels, enjoying the way the soft soil shifted under his movement. He wasn't an earthbender- very few of the people in his village were. Kwan had always wondered what it would be like to command the earth itself, to be able to fling huge boulders with ease, and to be fully aware of what an awesome power it was. The dream of power was the dream of every young boy. Kwan's mother, though, had frowned when her son had first expressed his desire to be an earthbender. Power, she had said, was too often abused to be a good thing. Kwan didn't understand what she meant by that.

"Look at the Fire Nation," was her reply as she had sat sewing in her chair by the window. She was forever doing something with her hands. Her fingers reminded Kwan of the miniature koi that lived in the river at the foot of the hill- always in motion, moving swiftly and purposefully. "They get hold of some power and they use it to force the other nations under their control." She had looked at him sharply then, a concealed warning glinting in her dusky hazel eyes. Kwan had nodded his head like he understood, but he didn't really. Their village was far from the reach of the Fire Nation. He had no idea of the extent of their power. He still didn't.

There was a flash of gold in the corner of Kwan's eye. He glanced up and saw a butterfly, buffered harshly by the winds that customarily swirled around the village- especially now, with summer approaching. The insect managed to land on the leaf of one of the sprouts, flexing its red and gold wings to steady itself. It was beautiful, Kwan supposed. But the moment was short-lived, as a sudden gust brushed the butterfly off of its perch. It tumbled awkwardly through the air, fluttering desperately as the uncaring wind bore it away.

Kwan watched it go for a few seconds, then looked away and got to his feet, brushing stray clumps of earth from his olive green pants. Funny, it seemed, how the most beautiful things in life were often the most delicate and helpless.

As he reached into his pouch to grab another fistful of curare powder, a shrill scream pierced his ears. He jerked in alarm, spilling dark red powder over the ground. The scream had come from the village. Kwan's eyes automatically went to the sky- maybe a wolf-buzzard had flown down from the nearby mountain range, like last year. But no, there were no ominous shadows in the sky, only harmless clouds made wispy by the wind. So what was happening? Panic jittered nervously in Kwan's mind.

"Kwan!"

Kwan saw his older sister Ming-Li rushing towards him, her normally dark complexion turned pale. She dashed through the rows of sprouts and clutched his shirt urgently.

"What's going on?" Kwan asked her, genuinely afraid now. "Who screamed?"

"Fire Nation!" Ming-Li gasped in a fearful whisper. Kwan swore he felt his heart skip a beat. "In the village- three of them!"

"What do they want?" Kwan said shakily.

Ming-Li shook her head, her dark hair whipping around her thin face. "I don't know," she gasped again, trying to catch her breath. "They just showed up- but one of them said something about the Avatar."

"The Avatar!" Kwan breathed, more to himself than to his sister. He had heard countless stories about that supernatural being, and recent rumor had it that the Avatar had actually returned- but why in the world would Fire Nation soldiers come to their village in search of Him? "We should go." He grabbed his sister's hands and led her down the neat row of corn toward the village.

When the siblings entered the main street, the first thing they saw was a crowd of people clustered in front of the storehouses where the grain was kept. They reminded Kwan of mice huddled away from a prowling cat. In the middle of the street were three giant, striped salamanders, each large enough to bear a saddle and rider. The lizards' eyes bulged grotesquely, and their tongues darted constantly out of their lipless mouth to lick obsessively at the air. And sitting astride the salamanders were three girls in Fire Nation clothes.

Kwan blinked. Three _girls_?

As a general norm, girls weren't included in the military. Especially young girls. However, now that he looked at them, only the girl in the middle was wearing an armored military breastplate and matching gauntlets. The other two were in fairly normal clothes, although one of the girls had on what looked like a circus performer's outfit- a pink top with matching pants and a shamelessly exposed midriff.

The armored girl ordered her mount forward a few strides, so that she was directly in front of the villagers. "My patience with you peasants is wearing dangerously thin," she said in a steely, authoritative tone. It made Kwan shiver, though he didn't quite know why. "We know the Avatar was headed in this direction. It would be impossible for you not to have seen him. Where did he go?"

Ming-Li and Kwan inched around the edge of the crowd and made their way inward until they reached their parents. Kwan slipped his hand into his mother's, who squeezed his fingers tightly as if to assure herself that they were all there. "Is it true?" he whispered to her. "Has the Avatar really come back?"

"Ssh!" his mother hissed almost frantically. Kwan immediately bit his lip. He had never seen his mother so shaken. On close inspection, he saw a cold sweat standing out on her tanned forehead.

"I asked you where he went!" the girl snapped, so loudly that it made Kwan jump. "I'd advise you not to make me wait much longer."

A burly man at the front of the crowd bravely stepped forward to address her. "None of us have seen any Avatar," he explained tersely. "We've all heard he was long dead."

"Well, you heard wrong," the girl informed him snidely, looking down from her saddle on him as though he were some sort of ugly parasite. Her eyes scanned the crowd and landed on Kwan's mother. "You!" she called. "Old woman!"

Kwan's mother clutched her son's hand even harder and didn't respond. She was a middle-aged woman with tired circles under her eyes and faint traces of grey in her rich brown hair.

"Have you seen the Avatar?" the girl demanded. Kwan's mother trembled nervously, and her voice wavered when she spoke.

"No. I have never seen him."

The girl surveyed her haughtily before leaping down from her lizard, her eyes blazing frighteningly. "You're a very bad liar."

Kwan's mother flinched as if from the accusation in the girl's voice. Kwan stared up at his mother in shock. One of the other girls, the one with her midriff covered, finally spoke.

"Azula, we're wasting time here. He could have gone over the mountains for all we know, and they never would have seen him." Her voice sounded hoarse.

The girl in armor- Azula- threw an irritated glare over her shoulder at her companion. "Those are the Tsin Han mountains, Mai. Home to a thousand natural predators. Not even the Avatar would be foolish enough to fly over them, and he would have had to fly over this village in order to bypass them. I know they've seen him." She fixed her eyes on Kwan's mother and walked steadily forward.

"Hey-!" A couple men at the front made to stop Azula, but she sidestepped them easily and conjured crackling blue flames around her fists.

"Go ahead," she suggested menacingly to the man she had spoken to earlier. He quivered and moved away. The crowd parted like a flower opening, and Azula stalked purposefully up to Kwan's mother. "Now, are you going to answer my question or am I going to have to make this unpleasant for you?"

Kwan's mother was rigid, but she answered in a low voice, "I already told you; I haven't seen any Avatar."

Before she even finished speaking, Azula's eyes had traveled to the woman's tightly clenched hand, and over to Kwan, whose hand was being held. The firebender smirked and lunged.

In a flash, Kwan found himself in Azula's grip. She had a fistful of his tangled brown hair in one hand and a fistful of blue fire in the other, and was dragging him away from his family. Kwan yelped in pain and alarm. Ming-Li shrieked, and his mother started forward with panic in her face. Azula held the fire threateningly close to Kwan's face. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." She yanked Kwan's hair rudely. "Move."

Kwan could only stumble backwards, paralyzed by the ominous heat cast onto his cheek by the flames. Behind him, he heard an ironically sweet voice call out, "Azula, he's just a kid."

"I know what I'm doing," Azula said sharply. She pushed on Kwan's head, forcing him onto his knees, and tightened her grip. Kwan felt her pointed nails scrape his scalp and winced.

"Is this your son?" Azula demanded of Kwan's mother, who was frozen in place. She mouthed wordlessly, then nodded.

"Yes," she said in an agonized whisper.

"Isn't that nice," Azula cooed mockingly. "Mothers are _so_ protective of their little boys, aren't they? I've had some experience in that area myself." She moved the handful of flames away from Kwan's face, but left it close enough to be a threat. 'Now, seeing as you're such a good mother, you won't let me burn your baby boy's face off. So you'll answer my questions, won't you? And you'll tell the truth this time, right?" She pulled Kwan's head back so he could see her face. She was oddly pale compared to him, with cold features and striking golden eyes. "What's your name?" she asked him coolly.

"Kwan," Kwan murmured before he even realized it.

"Kwan, be a dear and tell your mother that lying is a very bad thing to do. She should tell the truth." Azula's red mouth stretched into a cruel smile. "Tell her," she urged him.

Kwan swallowed hard and made eye contact with his trembling mother. "Mom," he said hoarsely, "you should- you should tell her- the truth." Kwan's mother made an odd gulping noise and pressed the embroidered hem of her sleeve to her mouth.

Azula jerked Kwan's head back even farther, exposing the vulnerable skin of his throat. "You heard him," she snapped, the mocking undertone gone from her voice. Her eyes were like chips of cold metal. "Tell me. _Now_." With her final word, the fire in her hand flared higher than ever. The tongues of heat licked Kwan's face and he whimpered.

"Shut up," Azula ordered him almost absentmindedly. And just like that, Kwan fell absolutely silent. It was reflexive, and it was terrifying. Terrifying that this girl could have that kind of control over him. Kwan struggled to see his mother, but his head was too far back. All he could do was stare up at Azula with a kind of fascinated horror.

There was a long pause. Then Kwan heard his mother speak in a choked monotone. "He flew over early yesterday morning. While I was going out to check the fields."

"Which direction?" Azula questioned. There was another pause. Kwan's mother must have pointed, because Azula suddenly released Kwan's hair. He staggered and turned, catching sight of the girl. She glanced down at him and sneered. Her jet-black hair was loose in the front. It streamed in the wind, and Kwan realized with a jolt that she was beautiful.

Without a word, Azula turned on her heel and swung up onto her lizard. She cracked the reins, and the beast scuttled away, followed by the other two. Kwan gazed after them, somewhat stunned. Half of him wanted to jump to his feet and race after her, and yet the other half of him was still terrified of her.

"Oh, Kwan!" His mother swept down on him and held him to her tightly. "I'm so sorry," she sobbed. Kwan only vaguely felt her tears drop onto the top of his head. He was preoccupied with the awareness of what had just happened to him.

Power. He had thought about it so many times, wanted it so many times. Only now did he know what true power was. Power was more than bending or sheer physical force. Power was the ability to intimidate, to silence someone with a mere word.

Azula had shown him power, and her cruel beauty had overwhelmed him. He shivered, remembering her piercing, perfectly golden eyes. Such beauty merged with such power, and yet they were no different, he perceived. Beauty was power. Power was beautiful.

And as he thought about it, Kwan decided that there were very few girls in the world like Azula. Very few indeed.


End file.
